Paper films – treasures of pre-war Japan – to be screened at Billy Wilder Theater, April 13
Courtesy of Toy Film Museum
An effort is underway to preserve about 200 of the films, few of which survived World War II.
| April 4, 2025
In the 1930s, amid mounting competition from an influx of foreign cartoons, Japan’s animation industry began searching for cheaper and faster modes of production.
Enter kami firumu, or paper films. These short films, both animated and live-action, were printed onto paper strips and glued together by hand. Initially, kami firumu were exhibited using hand-crank projectors that operated without a fixed framerate; despite this, they were often paired with intentionally synchronized soundtracks pressed onto 78 rpm records.
As was the case for Japanese nitrate films of the era, few paper films managed to survive the destruction wrought by World War II.
Now, some 90 years after the height of the medium’s popularity, a selection of kami firumu will be presented by the Yanai Initiative for Globalizing Japanese Humanities — a partnership between UCLA and Tokyo’s Waseda University — and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. “Japanese Paper Films” will be screened April 13 at 7 p.m., at the Billy Wilder Theater at the Hammer Museum at UCLA.
Silent films will be projected alongside live musical accompaniment, and the event will also feature a discussion with Bucknell University professor Eric Faden, who is leading an international effort to digitally preserve about 200 of the films. The Yanai Initiative is planning to work with Faden to develop a public database of the films.
“For anyone interested in Japanese animation, or in little-known areas of global film history, this is going to be a really special and really fun screening,” said Michael Emmerich, UCLA’s Tadashi Yanai Professor of Japanese Literature and director of the Yanai Initiative. “Following the huge success of last year’s Art of the Benshi world tour, which featured silent films with benshi narration, I’m thrilled the Yanai Initiative can once again partner with the UCLA Film & Television Archive to bring another unique cinematic experience to Los Angeles audiences.”
The UCLA screening is part of a tour that has already logged stops in Chicago and at the University of Illinois. A screening at UC Santa Barbara is scheduled for April 12, and the Yanai Initiative is planning an extensive tour in Japan for June and July.
Admission to the April 13 screening is free, and there are no advance reservations. Seats will be assigned as tickets are picked up from the box office, which opens one hour before the event.
“Japanese Paper Films” was programmed by UCLA Film & Television Archive senior programmer Paul Malcolm in collaboration with the Yanai Initiative. This story is adapted from program notes written by Noah Brockman.